Windows Action Center showing Emsisoft is turned off

[nine9s 0]

I wrote a message yesterday that WAC was altering that Emsisoft was turned off during updates but now it all of the time (after a few minutes after booting into system.)

 

This all started after I updated my trial license to my paid license yesterday.

 

After I first noticed it,  I uninstalled Emsisoft and reinstalled with new license.  It seemed to do it only during Emsisoft updates after that but I never rebooted after that.

 

Then today, after booting from a shutdown last night, WAV was showing Emsisoft turned off all the time (after initial boot it showed nothing but a few minutes later it alerted me that Emsisoft was not running.)

 

Since it has been about a year, I decided to go back to an image of my Windows 7 in case some stray old Emsisoft file was causing this.  That image had Avast Free on it.  I let Avast update while I did other things before uninstalling it and installing Emsisoft.   WAV never once reported Avast was turned off - it was working fine and I was in the system with Avast for several hours this morning.

 

After I got my refreshed imagine computer fully updated with Windows updates and newer applications,  I uninstalled Avast with its remover software in Safe Mode.  I then booted to regular WIndows mode, and installed Emsisoft.  While Emsisoft was installing, WAC notified my I had no antivirus program.  As soon as Emsisoft did the initial scan and fully installed, the WAC notification went away immediately and everything was fine during that WIndows session.  After updating some other programs, I then rebooted, and after a few minutes the WAC notification came up stating that Emsisoft is turned off, but it is running when I checked it. 

 

I right clicked Emsisoft and disabled its protection and then turned it right back on, and the WAC notification went away and if i click it and go to security it states Emsisoft is running. 

 

But after I reboot, it does it again (WAC shows Emsisoft is turned off even though it is running.)

 

Searching for answer I found some threads from 2011 from many posters with the same problem with Emsisoft.

 

For example:

 

3 years ago on this forum:

 

http://support.emsisoft.com/topic/6425-emsisoft-anti-malware-and-windows-action-center/

 

3 years ago on Wilder's Security site:

 

http://www.wilderssecurity.com/threads/emsisoft-and-windows-7-problem.307700/

 

Is this an old bug that is back?

 

I assume Emsisoft is running, but it does not make me feel comfortable that WAC is stating it is not.  I am using Emsisoft because it is a top antivirus program, so while one might call this a cosmetic bug it does not make me feel comfortable.  I did not have this problem while using Emsisoft as a trial, it all started after using a year license.  I assume a coincidence, because again I am now using a refresh image and it is doing it also, and I never used a trial of Emsisoft on this imagine.

 

Can this be fixed?   Also, I shutdown my computer every evening, and reboot in the morning, so perhaps I am one of the first to see this since many people leave their computers running.  Anyone else noticing this same problem? 

[Fabian Wosar 390]

No, it is not an old bug that is back. The symptoms may be similar but the cause is different. We can reproduce the issue on one of our test systems so it will most likely be fixed in one of the next versions. However, there is no ETA. If you prefer to get a refund instead, please send an email to [email protected] Make sure to include your Cleverbridge order number if you still have it.

[nine9s 0]

No, it is not an old bug that is back. The symptoms may be similar but the cause is different. We can reproduce the issue on one of our test systems so it will most likely be fixed in one of the next versions. However, there is no ETA. If you prefer to get a refund instead, please send an email to [email protected] Make sure to include your Cleverbridge order number if you still have it.

 

 

Thanks.  I like Emsisoft and want to keep using it - I just feel uncomfortable with the WAV alert.  

 

If you would not mind please confirm the following:

 

1) You have same problem on you test machine (it is not just me)?

 

2) It is purely cosmetic (no risk of Emsisoft not fully protecting as it is designed to do)?

 

3) The problem is in schedule to be fixed but might be a whole new version (a year or so away or could it be an interim update)?

 

 

Thanks for any attention to this that you can offer. 

[Fabian Wosar 390]

1) You have same problem on you test machine (it is not just me)?

On one of our test systems, yes.

 

2) It is purely cosmetic (no risk of Emsisoft not fully protecting as it is designed to do)?

WAC has no influence on the actual protection. It's just cosmetic.

 

3) The problem is in schedule to be fixed but might be a whole new version (a year or so away or could it be an interim update)?

It is.

[Siketa 67]

FYI....check the screenshot.

After I perform manual update through tray icon, WAC returns to normal and recognizes EAM.

Download Image

[nine9s 0]

FYI....check the screenshot.

After I perform manual update through tray icon, WAC returns to normal and recognizes EAM.

manual update on Emsisoft?

[nine9s 0]

I rebooted, got alert and did manual Emsisoft update and alert went away.

 

I first noticed it on updates yesterday.  So it seems Emsisoft's update status is probably trigger this alert of Emsisoft being turned off someway. 

[fingers 1]

I got the same Problem since two days now.

 

My "fix" for this problem is: Open Emsisoft Anti-Malware once the WAC shows that EAM is deactivated. After you opened it just close it and the problem should disappear.

 

At least that's working for me.

 

 

Kind regards,

 

fingers

[The Banned 1]

Hi

 I decide format my pc and install emsi in a clean windows system and download the emsisoft internet security most recent installer and I see a little bug I see the security center don’t detect it are active but I test all modules (Firewall, Web shield, Behavior and Antivirus)  and all work well. That bug appears after the update you  sayd me 9.0.04519 I only report to correct it as soon possible. I like emsi as a new product and a new costumer and be rewarded by the company for a bug in licence center. I only want to help  and be secure and peace on mind emsi works well. I turn off all protection and then turn on and  Windows Action Center turn back to normal. Other solution is activate it from windows action center I never have Eureka  issue and i see it happen affter the update mentioned above. I dont think we have to wait one year for one correction please correct it. I trust on you. sorry What mean ETA?

[Fabian Wosar 390]

One recent Windows update changed the service start-up order. This results in WAC starting slightly later in the boot process. On some systems this causes EAM/EIS trying to report its status to WAC before it is fully initialized. The result is that WAC thinks EAM/EIS isn't running at all, since it didn't get the proper signal. As soon as you trigger any action that causes EAM/EIS to re-sync with WAC like an update or just turning one of the components on and off again the problem disappears. We will change the WAC integration slightly to make sure WAC is fully operational at the time we report our status and if not delay the report until WAC finished its initialization. That should fix the problem. There is no ETA yet though.

[nine9s 0]

One recent Windows update changed the service start-up order. This results in WAC starting slightly later in the boot process. On some systems this causes EAM/EIS trying to report its status to WAC before it is fully initialized. The result is that WAC thinks EAM/EIS isn't running at all, since it didn't get the proper signal. As soon as you trigger any action that causes EAM/EIS to re-sync with WAC like an update or just turning one of the components on and off again the problem disappears. We will change the WAC integration slightly to make sure WAC is fully operational at the time we report our status and if not delay the report until WAC finished its initialization. That should fix the problem. There is no ETA yet though.

 

 

I thought the WAC icon was taking longer to show up lately.

 

Thanks for finding the cause.   Knowing it is simply the delay of the WAC executing makes me feel more comfortable. 

[itman 2]

On my WIN 7 SP1 installation, here is the sequence of events for what it is worth:

 

1. Since I have had installed EAM well over a year ago, EAM will not show under antispyware or virus of Security section of Action Center until EAM completes it's updating after a cold boot. Once updating is complete, EAM appears in the above section. Also the above has no impact on EAM task bar icon that appears right away after boot time.

 

2. In my case recently, it appears the above is not occurring and I am receiving the WIN 7 taskbar icon that attention is needed which shows EAM is not running. Of course, it is running as verified by Task Manager. 

 

Fabian, do you have a temp manual fix for this such as setting the offending WIN 7 service to delayed start up or the like?  

 

Also this might just be a coincidence but my Internet speed has significantly decreased since this business started. I connect this PC wirelessly to my DSL gateway router. My wireless connection speed shows 48 - 54 mbps. Yesterday Internet speed tests using IE10 showed I was connecting at times less than 1 mbps! Speed today appears to be back up to normal.   

[Fabian Wosar 390]

Fabian, do you have a temp manual fix for this such as setting the offending WIN 7 service to delayed start up or the like?

You can tell WAC to just not monitor your anti-virus and anti-spyware software. Other than that I wouldn't suggest trying to influence the load order of your services manually as it may have a negative impact on your boot times. Your best approach is to just wait for us to issue an update to fix this particular issue.

[iammike 4]

I have the same problem on both EIS and EAM (2 different computers running both Win 8.1 x64)

 

Will wait for the Fix

[iammike 4]

Just thinking out loud (so sorry if this is stupid)

 

On my systems via HKLM\Run A2Guard starts this way

 

"c:\program files (x86)\emsisoft anti-malware\a2guard.exe" /d=60

 

Is /d=60 a delay for 60 seconds ?

 

If so, what if you increase this to let say 120 will that give WAC more time ?

 

Just guessing here, maybe it has nothing to do with it, if so then please delete this post

[twl845 0]

You can tell WAC to just not monitor your anti-virus and anti-spyware software. Other than that I wouldn't suggest trying to influence the load order of your services manually as it may have a negative impact on your boot times. Your best approach is to just wait for us to issue an update to fix this particular issue.

Thanks for the heads up. I will also wait for the update. As long as I see a green icon, I will ignore wac's warning that EAM is off.

[JustMe 0]

I noticed this issue recently as well, my fix is to just launch action center and turn it back "on" (it syncs the correct state with wac). Thanks for the info Fabian 

[Fabian Wosar 390]

Thanks for providing your workaround in addition to the methods I already mentioned before, JustMe.

[Gandalf 1]

The beta update from today (9.0.0.4570) unfortunately didn't fix this issue for me on Windows Technical Preview.

 

 

BETA UPDATES [Oct, 13, 2014] Beta updates – 2014-10-13

Emsisoft Anti-Malware & Emsisoft Internet Security 9.0.0.4570 – with BETA updates enabled:

• Fixed an occasional issue where the taskbar icon disappeared after a reboot.
• Fixed an occasional issue where Windows Security Center did not recognize EAM/EIS.
• Fixed an occasional crash bug during update.

 

[Fabian Wosar 390]

The beta update from today (9.0.0.4570) unfortunately didn't fix this issue for me on Windows Technical Preview.[/size]

We don't support pre-release versions of Windows. Could be that Microsoft changed the way applications have to register with the Windows Action Center as they did in almost every new Windows version since XP.

[nine9s 0]

We don't support pre-release versions of Windows. Could be that Microsoft changed the way applications have to register with the Windows Action Center as they did in almost every new Windows version since XP.

 

My Emsisoft is now 9.0.0.4570 and WAC is still stating that Emsisoft is not running after rebooting.    I am using Windows 7 x64.  

 

Just as before, if you open Emsisoft screen and close it, the WAC alert goes away, but the WAC alert for Emsisoft does still come up after rebooting even in the 9.0.0.4570 version. 

[Fabian Wosar 390]

Can you please provide a set of debug logs? Instructions of how to create such logs can be found here:

http://support.emsisoft.com/topic/14699-how-to-configure-emsisoft-anti-malware-and-emsisoft-internet-security-debug-logs/

Just follow the instructions to enable the logs and reboot. After the reboot you can capture the logs as described in the article. You can send them to [email protected] Please make sure to include a reference to this link to make your submissions easier to track. After you got the logs for me, disable debug logging again as those logs can get quite large if you keep them enabled over a longer period of time .

[Gandalf 1]

We don't support pre-release versions of Windows. Could be that Microsoft changed the way applications have to register with the Windows Action Center as they did in almost every new Windows version since XP.

Yeah, I know, just wanted to let you know anyway. Will see if the problem is solved on my kids laptops that are running 8.1 and report back.

[Fabian Wosar 390]

Yeah, I know, just wanted to let you know anyway. Will see if the problem is solved on my kids laptops that are running 8.1 and report back.

Thanks. If for some reason it isn't fixed, I would like to ask you to send in a set of debug logs. You can follow the same instructions I posted for nine9s.

[Gandalf 1]

Thanks. If for some reason it isn't fixed, I would like to ask you to send in a set of debug logs. You can follow the same instructions I posted for nine9s.

Unfortunately it is not fixed on the 2 laptops from my kids.

I have mailed you the debug logs from all 3 laptops in my household.

[nine9s 0]

Thanks. If for some reason it isn't fixed, I would like to ask you to send in a set of debug logs. You can follow the same instructions I posted for nine9s.

 

 

Sorry I  cannot run a debugging log - do not have Emsisoft on my main computer anymore.   I hope to return to Emsisoft when the problem is fixed (I like it and have a new 1 year license I just started using) but I can not run a log now, sorry.

[Christian Peters 99]

Hello,

 

a new beta update was released today to fix this WAC issue. The stable release of this update will be released in the next 24 hours.

[Gandalf 1]

Hello,

 

a new beta update was released today to fix this WAC issue. The stable release of this update will be released in the next 24 hours.

Thanks, I can confirm this issue is fixed on Windows (10) Technical Preview. I was unsure because the version remained 9.0.0.4570.

[fingers 1]

Thanks. If for some reason it isn't fixed, I would like to ask you to send in a set of debug logs. You can follow the same instructions I posted for nine9s.

 

I would love to send you some debug logs for the random update crash bug. Unfortunately the bug is pretty rare and only occured 2 times in the last 3 days so far, and i have no idea how to reproduce it. And since you are saying that those logs could get quite big i'm not too sure if its usefull to keep the log running over several days hoping that the crash occurs once more. :/

[Gandalf 1]

Thanks, I can confirm this issue is fixed on Windows (10) Technical Preview. I was unsure because the version remained 9.0.0.4570.

Unfortunately after another reboot the issue is back again 

[Andrew F. 28]

Unfortunately after another reboot the issue is back again 

Hello,

 

Could you please try to reproduce the issue and PM me debug logs ?

You can find the instructions how to do this at:

http://support.emsisoft.com/topic/14699-how-to-configure-emsisoft-anti-malware-and-emsisoft-internet-security-debug-logs/

 

Thank you in advance,

[Gandalf 1]

Hello,

 

Could you please try to reproduce the issue and PM me debug logs ?

You can find the instructions how to do this at:

http://support.emsisoft.com/topic/14699-how-to-configure-emsisoft-anti-malware-and-emsisoft-internet-security-debug-logs/

 

Thank you in advance,

Sorry today after re-enabling monitoring in the WAC and  enabling debugging I can't reproduce the issue anymore, not after 4 reboots.

So it seems that the issue is resolved after all with the latest updates.

Thanks for your hard work and great support.

[Christian Peters 99]

Hello,

ok and thank you for the feedback.